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How I Got Into a runDisney Meet-Up

by Melanie Adams on October 23, 2013

Squeeeeeee!!!! I’m so excited! Yesterday was a great day because I got into my very first runDisney meet-up, which is pretty much like hitting the runDisney lottery. This is something I’ve wanted about as long as I’ve wanted to do a runDisney race, which is as long as I’ve been running.

runDisney

Traditionally, these meet-ups have taken place early in the morning before the expo opens on marathon and half marathon weekends at Disney Parks. A week or two before the event, a post will appear on the Disney Parks Blog that will instruct those interested to send an email to a designated email address. Once the blog post goes up, runDisney will send out a tweet telling people to go visit the blog. Usually the tweet happens about a minute after the blog post goes up, although not always. Disney doesn’t say exactly when this will happen, but they usually send out a series of “teaser” tweets alerting everyone that the time is close. So, people will literally stalk the blog for days for their chance. They fill up so fast that usually if you don’t send the email within 2-3 minutes of the blog post going up, you are out of luck. Even then, it comes down to whose emails got there the fastest. I honestly never thought I’d actually get in, so I’m thrilled!

Here’s how it went down. I’m off work this week with no plans and nowhere to go, which almost never happens. I originally had the week before last off and was going to do fall cleaning on my house. I had a hunch that the meet-up post for the upcoming Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend would happen this week, so I figured I could fall clean this week as good as I could two weeks ago and moved my vacation to this week. That would put me in a better position to at least be watchful. I had my Twitter alerts set so that I would get a notification for all runDisney tweets, and I already had an email drafted from my gmail account (I’ve read that gmail sends faster than yahoo). I really wasn’t expecting the post until later in the week, but I was as prepared as I could be.

Yesterday morning, I had to go to my weekly Rotary Club meeting. I am the President, and our District Governor was coming for his official annual visit. So, I couldn’t skip that. About 20 minutes into the meeting, the first (and what ended up being the only) “teaser” tweet came.

Teaser Tweet

I thought to myself, “Please don’t do this now! This is literally the only obligation I have all week!” So, I went ahead and pulled up my email draft so it would be ready for “go time”. After the meeting was over, I had to have my official photo taken with our District Governor, and of course, his wife had to take about a bazillion photos (it was probably only 2). I shook his hand, thanked him for coming, said a few pleasantries to his wife, and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my phone on the table light up. I practically leaped over to it and saw that it was the Twitter notification for THE tweet!

THE Tweet

I didn’t even read it. I went straight to my email, hit send, watch the circle go round and round for what felt like 5 minutes (more like 20 seconds) and THEN went back to read the tweet. I then read the blog post to make sure they hadn’t changed anything about the method to register for it (they hadn’t).

It was also then that I saw it was going to be the very first nighttime meet-up and would feature a viewing area for attendees to watch Illuminations, Epcot’s nightly fireworks and laser show. Attendees would then get to sample food and wine featured as part of Epcot’s International Food and Wine Festival and hear Olympic athletes share training and nighttime running tips. The evening would be capped by a run through an empty Epcot and many other surprises. This was one meet-up I wanted to get in very badly! Not only is the Wine and Dine Half Marathon my inspiration race and the reason I started running 2 years ago, the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival is my favorite event at Disney.

So, for the next 3+ hours, I anxiously waited for them to post the list of attendees! I hoped with every ounce of hope I had that my name would be on the list. I knew I sent the email as fast as I possibly could, but did it get there fast enough? Finally, the list was up, and I found my name there!

I made the list!

So, in a couple of weeks when I head down to the Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend, my trip will begin with this awesome event, and I cannot be more excited!

This cute pic was in the teaser tweet.

I’ll be tweeting live and posting on Instagram during the event so make sure you follow me if you want to join the fun. Look for a blog post later about it, too!